Event Schedule and Speaker Lineup: (all times are in HKT)
08.50 - 9.00 Welcome Remarks - Hong Kong Venue and Toronto (HKETO Cocktail Venue)
Rachael Bedlington, Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao (Hong Kong Conference Venue)
Ms. Bedlington joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1992. At present, she is serving as Consul General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao, her fifth assignment with the Government of Canada in China. She most recently served as Minister (Commercial) at the Embassy in Beijing. From 2015 to 2019, she was Consul General in Guangzhou, and she completed previous China assignments at the Embassy from 1995 to 1998 and 2006 to 2011. She has also served as Political Counsellor in Kuala Lumpur and as Chargé d’Affaires in Colombo. At Headquarters, she has worked on a diverse range of issues, including in divisions responsible for negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, for bilateral relations with India and Southeast Asia, and, in the Human Resources Branch, for diplomatic assignments. In 2011, she became Head of Canada’s Sudan and South Sudan Task Force, representing Canada at the Darfur Peace Agreement Implementation Follow- Up Commission and serving as Chair of the International Contact Group on Sudan and South Sudan. From 2013 to 2015, she served as Executive Director for Human Rights and Indigenous Affairs Policy.
Emily Mo, Director, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto)
Emily joined the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China in 2001 as a member of the Administrative Officer Grade. In December 2018, she took up the Director post in the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto, the mandate of which is to foster closer economic trade ties between Canada and Hong Kong, and also promote bilateral cultural relations and people-to-people ties. Before that she had worked in different offices of the HKSAR government.
9.00 - 9.10 Opening Remarks
Madeleine Behan, Founder, The TransPacific Entrepreneurial Conference; Governor, The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
Madeleine Behan is a Governor of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. She is the Founder of the annual CanChamHK-HKCBA TransPacific Entrepreneurial Conference, a primary aim of which is to encourage Canadian companies, industries and entrepreneurial businesses of all types and sizes to utilize Hong Kong as their business “Super Smart Link” to China and the rest of the region. She is the Director of The Communication Group which is a consultancy specializing in Information Design: Information Structure™. The Communication Group advises companies on their financial and audit as well as risk assessment reports. The company has been involved in the Canadian Chamber since 2003. Currently, she is the Co-Chair of the Entrepreneur and Small Business Committee and also a founding member of the Women’s Network. Madeleine is a Discourse Analyst and is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (The IIA) and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).
Sonja Chong, National Chair, The Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (HKCBA)
Sonja Chong is the founding partner of Sonja Chong Professional Corporation, CPAs. She is a seasoned income tax practitioner fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Sonja provides value-added tax services to corporations and high net-worth individuals including tax planning for immigrants and emigrants, effective use of resident and offshore trusts, estate planning, structuring of real estate investments, purchases and sales of businesses, dealing with tax authorities on complex matters, structuring of inbound investments, and structuring of outbound investments via the Hong Kong platform.
Ms. Chong was a member of the “Joint Committee on Taxation” of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. She served as a Governor of the Canadian Tax Foundation from 2004 to 2007. Sonja co-chaired the Ontario Tax Conference for 8 years, and was on the editorial board of the Carswell service "Taxation of Real Estate in Canada".
Ms. Chong has presented at over 150 income tax seminars. From 2014 to 2016, she served on the Board of Directors of CBC/Radio-Canada.
Alex Tam, Chair, The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
Alex Tam joined CIBC Capital Markets in June 2018 as Managing Director, Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, he has responsibilities for overall relationship management of Asia Pacific corporate and financial institutions, including senior executive coverage, corporate lending, transaction banking, deposits, and trading credit to institutional clients in Asia.
Prior to joining CIBC, Alex worked in leadership roles with global financial institutions, in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canada, including as Managing Director, Head of Financial Institutions, and Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking Asia. He has 30 years of experience with international banks and serves on the Consultative Council of The Hong Kong Association of Banks, representing the Canada and US region banks, as well as on community organizations including as Chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, where he has proactively represented and advocated for members to governments locally and in Canada, and to the international business community. He is also a Male Ally of The Women's Foundation, where he supports the challenging of gender stereotypes, and advancing women leaders in business and financial services, and serves as Vice Chair of the Membership and Corporate Affairs Committee for the Hong Kong Tennis Association.
Alex received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of British Columbia and is a Certified Credit Risk Management Professional ((CCRP), Commercial Lending (CL) and Credit Portfolio Management (CPM)).
9.10 - 9.25 Keynote Speech
Philip Witherington, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Manulife Asia
Phil Witherington is President & Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Asia and has been a member of Manulife’s Executive Leadership Team since 2018. He is responsible for Manulife’s fast-growing Asia franchise including businesses in Hong Kong and Macau, mainland China, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Myanmar.
Prior to this appointment, Phil served five-years as Chief Financial Officer at Manulife beginning in 2018. He was responsible for managing Manulife’s global financial affairs, and successfully led the implementation of IFRS 17 and IFRS 9. Phil joined Manulife in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer of Manulife Asia, and served as its Interim President & Chief Executive Officer in 2017.
Phil has 25 years of experience in insurance and financial services, globally and in developed and emerging markets within Asia. Prior to joining Manulife, Phil led finance in Asia Pacific for the Retail Banking and Wealth Management business at HSBC and earlier served as the Deputy Regional Chief Financial Officer for its Asian insurance businesses. Previously, Phil was Vice President Finance at AIA, based in Hong Kong. He also spent a decade with KPMG in London and Hong Kong, specializing in financial services audit and advisory services, with a particular focus on life insurance clients.
Phil holds an Executive MBA jointly awarded by the University of Edinburgh Management School (United Kingdom) and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris, France). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (FCA) and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FCPA).
A story of a leading financial service provider’s positive and active engagement through this region. The theme of TransPac this year, in addition to marking the 10th Anniversary, is Hong Kong as a “Super Connector”. The focus will be the role for Hong Kong in terms of connection through the broader region, in particular expanding business networks into South-East Asia.
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